Coliseum up for grabs as English National Opera faces swan song
Plan to push ENO out of London leaves a question mark over West End crown jewel. By
As the Surrey and Middlesex players padded up, the orchestra began to tune their instruments. Clad in evening wear, the spectators took their cushioned seats just inches away from the action, with only a fine mesh net to protect them. As play began, the heavy ball bounced off the wooden boards of the stage and ricocheted into the wings.
The London Coliseum may seem an unusual choice of venue for cricket. Yet the match, played in 1908, was one of a number of experimental performances held at the West End theatre. From dog racing and polo to a mock trench battle – which the German side won – no spectacle was too bold for its stage.
The Coliseum went on to enjoy a stint as a cinema, screening blockbusters such as 1933 classic King Kong, before maturing into its modern role as home of the English National Opera (ENO).
But as the Government swings its levelling-up axe through the arts world, the ENO risks losing its home, and the future of the Coliseum is now in doubt.
The disruption began earlier this month, when Arts Council England announced it was diverting funding from a number of major arts organisations in London. Institutions including the Southbank Centre and the Royal Opera House are expected to lose out. But among the hardest hit is the ENO, which will be stripped of its £12.6m annual grant. The Arts Council has instead offered £17m over three years, but only on the proviso that the organisation moves out of London.
The ENO is pushing back against the decision – widely interpreted as part of the levelling-up agenda trumpeted by Michael Gove – with chief executive Stuart Murphy branding it “absurd” and “insane”. He has secured an emergency meeting with Michelle Donelan, the Culture Secretary, in which he will plead for the group to retain its London base while launching a “satellite” branch elsewhere in the country.
With a move to Manchester now on the cards, however, the ENO might be forced to put the Coliseum – its crown jewel – up for sale.
Unsurprisingly, sales of West End theatres do not come around often. The last on the open market was in 2018, when billionaire Sir Len Blavatnik paid a reported £45m for the remaining 67-year lease on the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Mark Churchouse, senior director of leisure at CBRE, says: “There’s a huge scarcity of opportunity to acquire theatres in London.”
Despite the chaos wreaked on the theatre industry by the pandemic, the outlook – for the medium term at least – is optimistic. Audiences are returning after lockdowns and US tourists are flocking to the capital in their droves, taking advantage of a weak pound.
“It would be wrong to say there hasn’t been an impact and things are hunky dory,” says Churchouse. “It is hard work for the operators and we’re going to go through a tough period in theatres as we are for everything else.
“But it’s the London West End theatre market and there will always be faith in that market.”
Moreover, the Coliseum, which the ENO bought for £12.8m in 1992, is a particularly rare find. With almost 2,400 seats and a stage over 80ft wide, it is the largest theatre in the West End.
Aside from prestige, this makes the Coliseum an attractive proposition for an investor hoping to launch a large production with a long, profitable run.
Four years after he secured a foothold in theatreland, there is speculation that Sir Len could swoop again, though a spokesman denied he was interested in the Coliseum.
Other players linked to a possible deal include Ambassador Theatres, which owns dozens of venues in the West End and Broadway including the Lyceum and Apollo Victoria; and Delfont Mackintosh, behind the Sondheim and Noel Coward theatres.
Big-name producers including David Ian and Andrew Lloyd Webber may also have designs on the site. For the ENO, however, the battle is just beginning. A petition to reinstate the organisation’s funding, launched by Welsh opera singer Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, has already gained more than 33,000 signatures. Meanwhile, boss Murphy will be hoping he can force a government rethink, pointing to the ENO’s drive for diverse and young audiences.
And even if the move does go ahead, the ENO could hold on to the Coliseum. Harry Brünjes, chairman of the ENO, said the opera group had been told it could retain ownership of the theatre, but had to use it as a “commercial asset”, making it available to other cultural organisations at a cut-price rate. Or it could renounce the Arts Council and try to forge ahead with private funding.
Nevertheless, opportunities to snap up a West End theatre are few and far between, so as the ENO prepares for its showdown with the Arts Council, its rivals will be waiting in the wings.
‘It’s the London West End theatre market and there will always be faith in that market’